I second that recommendation. Brilliant book 🙂

Thank you so much, Kristen. I appreciate that more than you can know. And, I’l be anxious to know your opinion of Tristine’s book. It is just head and shoulders above anything else I know of on the market. She shows you the various ways to structure your memoir based on your material. There are a handful of craft books I recommend–Scene and Structure and the BEST book on fiction writing ever written, WRITING FICTION by Janet Burroway. Blue skies, Les

Went ahead and picked up Tristine’s book too since you recommended it. We are always learning, right?

Just bought your memoir. Thanks for letting us know you had one out because I KNOW you’ve lived an amazing life. You’ve been an incredible mentor and inspiration. And my copy will be here SUNDAY!

THANKS LES! Great to hear from you and I didn’t realize you had a memoir. Going to go get that now! Thanks for the suggestion. You know, I’ve been your acolyte for ages and I’m the Structure Nazi it seems. We all have our areas of excellence but I prefer to pass the torch to my betters when I can’t do the topic justice beyond a basic introduction. Lots of love! And see you in church, LOL.

Yes. Your villain needs to fit the genre. Now I think you can get as evil as you want to, but if you pair a Hannibal Lecter with a cozy mystery the readers will hate it because genre sets reader expectations. But I read and have read some really gritty stuff. “American Psycho,” “Pillars of the Earth,” “Queen of Bedlam,” all the “A Song of Ice & Fire” (“Game of Thrones”) books, and some mystery thrillers with villains that would give most people nightmares. I love a good villain, and love writing them. Just make sure you’re fitting that villain in the right genre and you’re golden 😉 .